A conventional network router, part of ISO Layer 3, has several primary functions: (1) to receive read the asserted destination of an incoming message; (2) to listen to the network communications between other routers, to learn which output terminal, if any, is most appropriate for forwarding the received message, optionally using a routing table that can be constructed by this router (control phase); (3) to forward the message, if the asserted destination can be reached from this router (forwarding phase); and (4) to discard the message if the asserted destination cannot be reached from this router. Ideally, the router will issue the message from an output terminal if the asserted destination can be reached from this router without passing through this router again, in order to minimize redundant network traffic. Apart from these requirements, a router operates almost transparently, issuing a received message from an output terminal without collecting any metadata on the received message or authentication of the message source. One goal in using a router is to reduce network traffic by stopping the propagation of a message that cannot be efficiently delivered to the asserted destination from this router. Network traffic could be further reduced if one or more aspects of the message could be characterized, and a message whose type or content is improper for that asserted destination can be terminated. A routing table may provide (1) information on which connections lead to particular groups of Internet addresses, (2) priorities for connections to be used, and (3) rules or standards for handling routine messages and priority or special case messages. Router statistics and message metadata are discarded after message transmission.
Network e-mail communications are often handled by one of two or more e-mail transmission protocols that are inconsistent with each other, Small Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and “Web Mail”. STMP was first proposed and developed in 1982 by Jonathan Postel and other workers, in RFC821, RFC 1123, and subsequent RFC documents, as a protocol for sending e-mail messages. Web Mail, proposed in 1995 by Luca Manunza and first released in 1997, is an e-mail service intended to be addressed by a Web browser. Web Mail can be received by any Internet-connected browser; but absent such connection an old Web Mail message cannot normally be received. Web Mail has no standard interface, and the number of different Web Mail protocols approximates the number of major networks in the world.
Protocols for receiving e-mail messages include the Post Office Protocol (POP) and the Internet Message Access Protocol (iMAP), which facilitate accessing of specified e-mail accounts on a mail server. A large percentage of e-mail is transmitted using SMTP, which coexists uneasily with Web Mail.
What is needed is an augmented router system that: (1) archives and indexes router message statistics, including message metadata and uses this information to intelligently determine which messages are properly forwarded to an asserted destination, assuming that the asserted destination does exist and can be reached from this router; and (2) translates between SMTP and Web Mail for e-mail messages to be transmitted from a router that serves as an interface between an SMTP network and a Web Mail network.